The concept of “widespread hotel” was born in Friuli after the earthquake. Local administrators and entrepreneurs got together to revitalize destroyed countries that were in danger of not recovering; building non-traditional hotels, with rooms and apartments distributed in the houses and in the reconstructed streets, proved to be a good way to give a second chance to small towns in difficulty. Today there are 280 widespread hotels in Italy, and the formula is unrelated to the original one of the recovery of dying villages, indeed it is often the opposite: it is precisely the small jewels that are reconverted in this way. This is the case of Torre del Nera-Albergo diffuso & spa which is located in Scheggino, in the province of Perugia. The director Fulvio Badetti has a world view on the phenomenon: he has managed hotels in half of Europe and the Caribbean and teaches at the IED Master of Tourism in Rome and at the European University School for Tourism in Milan. He says: “The widespread hotel is the only tourist formula created in Italy and imitated abroad, after we have imported many others, such as bed & breakfast, etc.”.
A glimpse of the dining room of the Torre del Nera restaurant
In the case of Torre del Nera at the origin there is a family of entrepreneurs from Bergamo dedicated to anything else: Gabriele Giannattasio founded Iterchimica in 1967, a leader in the market of additives for asphalts, a company that has recently distinguished itself for the patent of a graphene additive. But in parallel with his main activity, Giannattasio discovered and cultivated a vocation for eco-sustainable tourism: two hotels in Livigno in the early 1970s, then exotic experiences in the Amazon and in Los Roques. In Italy the new chosen area is the Valnerina, in the green heart of Umbria; the discovery of Scheggino by Gabriele Giannattasio goes back to about twenty years ago: “I happened to be there almost by chance, during a business trip. I remember a crazy natural scenario, a village and a destroyed and depressed territory that, in my opinion, had to and could come back to life. Today guests find a second home here, and the surrounding landscape does the rest ”. The place was rebuilt inspired by the principles of the original architecture, which was already eco-sustainable; and the old stone houses have come back to life.
Above an overall view of Scheggino and above the spa of the Torre del Nera hotel
The progenitor is still active in both branches of the family, while in the second generation (a son and two daughters) it is Mariella above all who takes care of the tourist part; met on the spot, she speaks with passion of Torre del Nera and all of Umbria, which (she says) “is less promoted than other Italian regions, but has nothing to envy to Tuscany”. And in fact, after having toured for four or five days in Umbria based on the Tower, one thinks that if Dante returned among us he would feel at home here in Umbria, which has preserved a medieval aspect in the natural landscape and in villages like Sceggino. perhaps even more genuine than that of his native Tuscany (where much more has been stratified that recalls the Renaissance and subsequent eras).
All environments know of the Middle Ages, in the deluxe version. The rooms and apartments are different from each other in structure and furnishings, no two are alike
The widespread hotel of Torre del Nera has 12 rooms in the central body of the village of Scheggino and 16 apartments scattered among the cobbled alleys; naturally each room and each apartment is unique, both as a building structure and as furniture. Comfort is not sacrificed. The spa occupies 400 square meters carved into the chipped rock of the Tower with a large heated swimming pool, a relaxation area dedicated to the sensory journey and various proposals. The restaurant offers zero kilometer food (Umbrian cuisine is rich) and the hotel offers itself as a starting point for both historical-artistic and natural discovery of the region; the most famous urban centers of Umbria are all located at distances ranging from half an hour to an hour or a little more by car; the food and wine tours can be even shorter, and when you want to leave your car parked there are routes with pedal assisted bicycles or you can go horseback riding to a nearby ranch, or go rafting, or trekking, or forget all the English words and just wander around. The next project is to organize truffle hunting expeditions with expert guides.
The reception of the Torre del Nera hotel is a little detached from the village and immersed in the greenery that surrounds Scheggino